It All Started with a Promise
by Dark Knight Warrior
Summary: Once, on a planet called Gallifrey, an unofficial promise was made between two boys. Their names were Theta Sigma and Koschei Oakdown. Then the Promise was broken and everything turned to dust. Then The End of Time (spoilers) came and that promise was reinstated. But will it be enough, and what happened to the drums in the Master's head? The Master is in the TARDIS?


**Read the AN at the bottom, it's important if you like this story.**

**Disclaimer: Really? I don't own. . . yet! MUHAHAHAHA!**

Once, very long ago, there was the most remarkable planet. The Shining World of the Seven Systems it was called, located in Kasterborous. Home to the Fltterwings and the Woprats, the Trunkikes, Yaddlefish, Flubbes, and the Tafelshrews, and so many more. There was also one other, their society history spanning for billions of years. And this race was called the Time Lords, standing proud. Then, as all things decay and come to and end, the Gllifreyans did so cease to exist. There was a war, isn't there always? The Last Great Time War, it was called, and it killed millions upon millions. And not just the Time Lords and whom they were fighting, the Daleks, were lost. But before we get into that, I want to tell you a story. They greatest story never told **(Rings of Akhaten, anyone?)**.

Two teenage boys ran through the crimson fields of the valleys, the twin suns just starting to rise above the peaks of the mighty mountains in the south. The early morning sunlight hit the silver leaves of the trees just right, and made the forest on the sides of the valley turn into a sea of shimmering flames. The runaway teens were named Theta-Sigma (known to his friends as Theta), and Koschei. No one can know their future, but even they, Time Lords as they were, could have never have known that they would have gone from these happy, care-free, simple days, to destructive, dark days set out before them. They thought themselves as best friends, closer than brothers, more than just straightforward lovers **(Is no one else thinking about Star Trek? T'hy'la was used to describe Spock and Kirk. It meant friend, brother, lover)**.

With their hearts pumping, and backup respiratory systems kicking in, they collapsed onto one another, laughing. Upon falling down when trying to get upright, they just laid next to each other. A soft wind tore through the red grass, making the long blades sway and dance next to the boys. Robes of the Academy were brilliant shade of ruby, with the trim of gold and a high collar, so they young men were nearly invisible if you were not looking for them.

"Hey, Thete?" The one with the raven hair and ice blue eyes asked the other. His skin was pale, with slightly angular angels, but not guarded or cold. No, quite the opposite. When he was with this impossibly perfect, intelligent, and sweet individual next to him, he was open and loving.

"Yeah, Kos? What are you thinking about?" Theta maneuvered his body so he was facing his best friend, and gave him a lop-sided smile. His copper eyes glistened in the liquid rays, reflected light from the suns his making a faint halo around his golden locks. Koschei never imagined that he would get this lucky to have someone who loved him for who he was, the never ending drumbeat and all.

"When you said that we could be forever together, did you mean it? I'm a monster with the drumming. It'll make me insane one of these days when you have to leave me. It only ever quiets when you're touching me, loving me. When you're gone, so will I." Koschei is sure of this. His mind will be lost.

"Koschei Oakdown. Look at me," Theta pulled his face in close. When Koschei gazed up into those warm eyes, he continued. "You are not a monster. You can always come to me. I will always want to help you, to save you from those drums. To keep you safe. You are mine." Theta said affectionately, drawing him in for a saccharine kiss. Koschei returned it with no hesitance, easily slipping into his lover's mouth and teasing his tongue. When they finally pulled away to rest on each other's foreheads, they were out of breath once again.

"My doctor. The man who saves me."

Theta laughed. "If you become the master of the universe, the drumming will have won. But I will never let that happen." Their laughter faded into the whispering breeze of the burnt orange sky.

* * *

The Master stretches out his arms and with a gleam in his eye and says, "Then take me with you, Lord President. Let me ascend into glory!" He looks expectantly over the Doctor's hunched form, to where a group of Time Lords in standard red robes stand proud and tall.

"You are diseased, albeit a disease of our own making. No more." The Lord President sneers. The Master lowers his arms, realizing that he can't talk his way out of this situation. His fury builds as the beat of the drums pound away in his head. His own people made him insane!

The Lord President holds out his hand that is covered with the silver gauntlet. It starts to glow and hum, charging up so it can destroy the Master into atoms. There suddenly is a _click_, and there is the Doctor, standing in front of the Master. With his hand shaking slightly, he points the revolver at the Lord President.

"Choose your enemy well. We are many. The Master is but one." The Time Lord growled out at the Doctor.

"But he's the President. Kill him, and Gallifrey could be yours!" The Master knows however, that is the wrong thing to say when the Doctor wheels around and aims his weapon at him instead.

The Doctor looked at his once best friend, brother, lover, through the end of a barrel of the gun. Oh how far they've gone since Gallifrey, how much they've destroyed and hurt the other. But now he set his sights to the man in front of him, who had turned the entire Human race into him and brought the Time Lords back, with a mixture of grim determination, misery, and despair.

"He's to blame, not me!" The Master shouts, somewhat panicked. Then it clicks. "Oh, the link is inside my head. Kill me, the link gets broken, they go back. You never would, you coward. Go on then. Do it." All the things they done, it ends where the Doctor, his sweet Theta, kills him with a gun. How ironic.

The Doctor sees this resolution in the Master and stops. How could he kill the Master when he sees, just a small amount, his Koschei behind the mask? Once more, he turns on his heel and points the gun at the Lord President.

"Exactly. It's not just me, it's him. He's the link, kill him!" The Master silently cheers in his head. He won't die here. He will survive, and he will come back to get his revenge against the Doctor.

"The final act of your life is murder. But which one of us?" The President taunts the doctor, confident that the Doctor will kill the diseased vermin that calls himself the Master.

The Doctor is clearly struggling with himself. After a moment, movement catches his eye. A woman is standing to the right **(right for the Doctor, left for the President) **of the Lord President. She slowly lowers her hands and locks eyes with her son.* So much is conveyed in that look, pain and sorrow of countless years. Tears snake their way down her aged face, pooling at the end of her chin.

The Doctor is surprised for a second before gazing, almost hungrily, at her. So many years since he had last seen his mother, so _many_ since he had last fell her embrace. And yet, now he knows what he must do now.

The Doctor switches positions for the last time. The Master looks at his former childhood friend with sadness. All hope of getting out of this alive is gone.

"Get out of the way."

The Master has a brief moment of confusion before his face breaks out in a grin. As soon as he is in the clear, the Doctor fires the revolver at the device holding the diamond. Immediately it goes up in flames and there is a bright light behind the Time Lords. The link is severed.

"The link is broken. Back into the Time War, Rassilon. Back into hell!" the Doctor yells at him over the sound and the movement of the link.

_Gallifrey falling!_

Above the Earth, Gallifrey is flickering.

_Gallifrey falls!_

"You'll die with me, Doctor!" Rassilon furiously shouts.

"I know." The Doctor says accepting. Rassilon raises his hand again, and the Doctor's mother raises her hands to cover her face once more.

Part of the Master is frantic. The Doctor will just stand there, and let himself die! Koschei will not allow that. Nobody will hurt his Theta! The Master lies to himself, denying that he is still Koschei. Koschei died when Theta broke his promise, when the _Doctor_ left Gallifrey and left him there. But he didn't die, just buried. He resurfaces now, and drives the Master to do what he does next. On the outside, he says that it was for revenge. But he knows that it was more. It was to protect his best friend.

"Get out of the way."

The Master releases a bolt of energy at Rassilon, just as the Doctor gets out of the way. The bolt strikes him in the chest, and the President staggers backwards.

"You did this to me! All of my life!" the Master uses other hand, "You made me!" with each bolt, he steps closer, "One! Two! Three! FOUR!" The Master sends an energy bolt each time he says a number. There finally is a quake as Gallifrey is sent back into the Time War. The Master lurches and the energy of the planet disappearing sends him flying back. He cracks his head on the marble floor and succumbs to darkness.

* * *

The first thing he notices is silence. No drums. _Nothing _in his head. Just his thoughts. At first it scares him. They've been with him since he was eight years old, always driving him towards war and destruction. Who would he be now, without them? Then he is insanely happy. He is free of those drums! Free of Rassilon! Free of the madness he was never supposed to have!

Then another though occurs to him. Where is the Doctor? He beardy opens his eyes, blinking the fogginess out of them. He sees the broken glass in the skylight where the Doctor fell through to stop the Time Lords. He struggles to sit up, and glances around him. He becomes aware of a sound. It sounds like radiation flowing into a chamber.

And … flesh sliding against glass? Then he sees it. The Doctor's brown pinstriped suit, his hunched form on the bottom of the glass radiation chamber. Wilfred staring at the Doctor in horror. In a flash, he understood what had happened. The stupid Doctor! He always had to save those stupid apes! Sure, go ahead! Leave me behind.

But even as he thought those thoughts, his body was racing over to his enemy (could he even call him that now?). Of course he didn't sigh in relief when the Doctor uncoiled from his feral position. He wouldn't be concerned for the Doctor.

"Doctor." He murmured, resisting the urge to call him Theta.

Those brown eyes snapped up to his faster than he would have thought. Confusion filtered through those eyes before a blank mask settled into place.

"Still alive then?" Wilfred asked.

Fury exploded in the Master's chest. This _human_ was the reason the Doctor has to regenerate again. How many regenerations did he have left before he died completely? Two? One?

The Doctor stood and pushed open the transparent door, muttering to himself. "Master," he addressed, "what will you do now? Will you hunt me down, and kill me? Gallifrey is gone. We are the last once again. Or will you let me help you?" His voice was cold, detached.

"Doctor. The drums," his battered face still looked at the Master, no emotion. But his eyes were a different story. "The drums are gone. My life was a lie, right from the beginning."

There was silence before light returned to the Doctor's eyes, a small spark of hope. "Come with me. I told you before; you could be so much more. Just say yes. Just come with me."

The Master sneered, "And you keep me like a pet, bound in unbreakable chains forged in the heart of a dwarf star? Or maybe immobilize me in time and cast me in the basement of the TARDIS to rot?" But there was a tiny tremor in his voice. Maybe the Doctor would become his friend again . . .But what was he thinking! The Doctor is his enemy! He doesn't want or need him . . .right?

The Doctor must have picked up on the quiver in his voice because his own voice softened. "No, Master. I have a plan. You would be my equal. It would be an honor." There was a silence. The Master thought about the offer, two sides of his mind fighting, weighing the pros and cons. Before he could say anything, the Doctor doubled over like he just got punched in the gut. His hands and face glowed gold for a second, before fading.

"Doctor!" Wilfred yelled, trying to aid the Doctor. But he got shoved out of the way by the Master, who snarled, "Don't touch him!" as he reached out and supported the Doctor.

"Doctor, where is the TARDIS? Tell me!" The Doctor have him a look that clearly said, _are-you-still-insane?_ "Doctor we don't have time for this. We both know you're starting the regeneration progress. I won't steal you're TARDIS just yet!" The Doctor clearly didn't believe him at all, but with another groan, he told the Master where the TARDIS was. The Master, very un-Mastery at that, pulled one of those thin arms onto himself and wrapped his own arm around the other Time Lord's waist. With the Doctor leaning heavily on the Master's shoulder, they staggered together through the double oak doors. With an apology and a promise to see him again over his shoulder at Wilfred, they worked their way to the ship.

***So, they never really explained who that woman was, but she was the Doctor's mother, sister, or daughter. I don't think he had a sister, just (a) brother(s). So I just went with his mother. It seemed logical.**

**There's the end of chapter one. How will the Doctor and the Master turn out after they get back to the TARDIS? **

**BEFORE I DO THE NEXT CHAPTER, YOU GUYS NEED TO ANSWER SOME QUESTIONS:**

**Do you want the Doctor to regenerate? I am thinking I should just because I haven't read one of those yet.**

**Should they meet Amy Pond?**

**If I do the original series 5, do you want the exact word script they actually said, or my version? There will other episodes I put in too, so they won't all be** **from the season.**

**Do you want anything specific to be changed in season 5, something you didn't like in the first place?**

**Anyone want to be my beta?**

**Okay, tell me what you think! **

**I will be gone for two weeks on the 14****th**** and I will have no computer because it's a camping trip. I will be bringing a notebook with me though so I will be creating. **

**Have a nice day! **


End file.
